The future according to women

In 1972, Alvin Tofler published his collection of essay called The Futurists. His twenty-two futurists included only one women, Margaret Mead. He even omitted his own wife, Heidi. She had co-authored much of his work throughout their married life but she was never credited. Years later, he conceded the significance of Heidi's contributions and she was eventually credited as co-author.

Today, many women are contributing to the discourse of future studies but also pioneering academic research, shaping public policy and creating businesses with the future in mind. Here's how their contributions are shaping the world ahead.

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Cindy Frewen, architect and urban futurist

Frewen is an urban futurist, working on 100-year scenarios. A long view is critical in urban planning especially for her, as she advises communities on how to build in resilience with the likes of solar power, wind power and sustainable agriculture. With regard to the cityscapes depicted on screen, she says they are not a true reflection of future cities: "Blade Runner 2049 shows cartoon cities, pretty flat, bleak, a view of the worst way we can destroy our urban settings. Actually, when you quit maintaining things, it all goes back to nature. It becomes very beautiful and growing, cities become very biodegradable. It's the humans who are at risk, not the environment."

Three years ago, Gidley created a collaborative research paper entitled Women Sharing Australian Futures. She works hard to ensure that women are not being 'screened out' of futures studies, science and technology media stories, challenging the vested interests that are keeping women out of the futures limelight. For her, the problems that need fixing are in education, as extolled in her book Post-Formal Education. "It's of interest to women in particular because it offers a blueprint for the transformation of education so it better suits the 21st Century". Her approach eschews the current factory model of schooling, in favour of an integrated approach that prepares young people for a life of uncertainty, complexity and accelerated change.

Yvette Montero Salvatico, co-founder, Kedge LLC

Montero Salvatico is one half of Kedge, a foresight consultancy. Previously, the futurist at Disney, she has trained people all around the world in foresight practices. She sees the future through the lens of HR and organisational learning: "The job is to help other people understand the assumptions and biases they hold, to give individuals a new perspective and show them that the future is something they can control and direct". She liberates people to realise their own futures, like the Disney employee who, after taking the course, went on to research the future of food and has now started up an urban food planning business, with the mission to reimagine the future of food in India.

Terry Grim, partner, Foresight Alliance

As an ex-IBM employee, Terry blends engineering, analytics and intuition in her work. She encourages women to be more technology orientated, and embrace the STEM field. She wants to see more women writing science fiction too. She advises on social change and calls on institutions and organisations to embrace a more feminine culture: "Instead of masculine values of win-lose, we need to focus on win-win, to have more women visible in leadership positions, and in many ways make the organisation more relationship-orientated". She challenges us all to move 'beyond pink' and build a culture that prioritises feminine values.

Cindy Gallop, founder, MakeLoveNotPorn

Gallop set up All Sky Holdings, the sex tech fund. She raises money to invest in innovative sex tech ventures founded by women to support "the enormous market that is women's needs, wants and desires that are historically deemed too embarrassing, shameful and taboo to address in business". She is busy incubating gaming, dating and messaging ideas whilst running her own startup MakeLoveNotPorn. Her vision for the future is clear: "Fund women. Fund female founders at the same rate as male and you manage sexual harassment out instantly. Because sexual harassment stops in a gender-equal environment."